"Shao Yu, eight thousand war horses have arrived today, we can continue to form cavalry!" Not wanting to talk more about whether to send troops, Yu Ji turned the topic to other places.
Sure enough, after hearing Yu Ji's words, everyone's attention was attracted. They had only had a total of 6,000 cavalry before. Although they were riding two people, the number of horses was only more than 10,000, and this was still within their scope.
The clan has accumulated all the accumulation over the years and the war on the grassland.
What's more, some were lost during the war. But Yu Ji actually managed to get so many horses at once without saying a word, which is surprising.
"It's just that these horses are all Yunnan horses, and there is still a gap between them and the war horses from the three Bingliangyou lands!" Yu Ji said with some embarrassment. This is all she can do for the time being, and she also has the war horses from the three Bingliangyou lands.
It's really helpless.
In the era of cold weapons, the role of cavalry as a unit was really great. If we were to fight north, facing those northern princes, without cavalry, we would be at a huge disadvantage.
And if fighting in the south, although the water system in the south is crisscrossed and the cavalry cannot fully display their strength, having a cavalry can still give you a great advantage.
However, if you are in the south, the source of the war horses is still a problem.
Therefore, Yu Ji has been thinking of a solution to this matter. During the Battle of the Grassland, Wu Sangui's appearance stimulated Yu Ji's aura and made him think of the source of the war horse.
Wu Sangui was named King of Pingxi in the Qing Dynasty and guarded Yunnan. It was the word Yunnan that made Yu Ji think that it was not impossible to find war horses in the south.
The Yunnan horse is a kind of horse from Yunnan. It is a short horse. Although this horse lacks explosive power, it is stable and has long endurance.
As early as the Han Dynasty and the Three Kingdoms period, Dian horses have been seen in history books. "Huayang Guo Zhi·Nan Zhong Zhi" said: "Elders rumored that there is a magic horse in Dian Lake. If they meet each other, they will give birth to fine horses. It is commonly known as 'Dian Lake'.
A horse can travel five hundred miles a day."
"Marco Polo's Travels" states: "The strong horses produced in the highlands of Yunnan and Guangxi, with small but strong bodies, are sold in India. However, it should be known that two or three tendons are extracted from the horses so that they cannot hit their riders with their tails."
During the Ming and Qing dynasties, "Nanzhong Magazine" also recorded: "The horses in central Yunnan are small in size and have strong hooves. They go up high mountains and walk on dangerous paths. They do not sweat even for tens of miles, so they grow in valleys."
Mr. Jin Yong also mentioned this horse in the section of "The Deer and the Cauldron", "Wild horses flying across the herd and domineering kites in the sky." This section mentioned that Wei Xiaobao and Yunnan Admiral Zhang Yong, deputy general Wang Jinbao, and general Zhao Liangdong were discussing in Wu Yingxiong's mansion.
Which one is better between Yunnan horse and other horses?
Although Yunnan horses were mostly used as an important means of transportation for carrying goods and were rarely used as war horses, in the absence of other sources of war horses, they could only make do with this. After all, there were
It’s better than nothing!
Considering the geographical location of the Xiang clan, although it is very difficult to obtain war horses from the north, it is still feasible to obtain a batch of Yunnan horses.
Nanzhong, where Nanman is located, includes later Yunnan Province, southwestern Sichuan Province, most of Guizhou Province, and northeastern Myanmar. There is the Yunnan horse that Yu Ji wanted in Nanzhong. Moreover, Nanzhong is connected with Jiaozhou by mountains and rivers, and now
Jiaozhou was in the hands of the Xiang family.
Shortly after the grassland war ended, Yu Ji had already planned to contact the Southern Barbarians in Nanzhong. Moreover, by contacting them, they could get more than just horses. The Southern Barbarians were also rich in furs.
,mineral resources.
However, although a small number of Nanman people admire Han culture, the vast majority are still quite conservative, unwilling to have too much contact with the Han people, and have a hostile attitude towards the Han people. Therefore, at the beginning, the effect of Yu Ji's contact was not
not ideal.
However, after the Nanman invasion of Yizhou, this situation gradually began to change.
The battle between the Nanman and Yizhou Liu Che, although they gained a little advantage in the early stage, turned out to be miserable in the later stage. Therefore, after Yu Ji knew the news, she once again ordered people to contact her and fight with the weapons of the Central Plains.
A exchanges for Southern Barbarian furs, minerals and the main target Yunnan horses.
Although the Southern Barbarians had some die-hard elements, they were unable to stop Duan Siping, Mu Wang, Yong Qiang and others from trading with the Xiang clan to help the war effort when the war was unfavorable.
Therefore, Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty made slow progress in quelling the Southern Barbarians in one fell swoop. In addition to the harsh living environment of the Southern Barbarians, which made it unsuitable for Han people to fight here, there was also a small part of the reason why they came from the Xiang clan.
It can be said that Yu Ji killed two birds with one stone. While she got what she wanted, she also caused trouble for Liu Che.
In fact, Yu Ji is the same type of person as Li Xiang. Although she is not cheating like Li Xiang, she is constantly diverging her thinking and looking for every possibility to increase her strength.
Even though Yu Ji now set her sights on Yunnan horses, she never gave up on exploring the source of war horses in the north. Although it was impossible to travel on land, she tried on water, and even more
To be precise, the attempt was made on the sea route.
If Jingzhou's waterway goes out to sea and goes all the way to the north, it will inevitably be noticed by Zhu Yuanzhang, who is in Yangzhou at this time. But Jiaozhou is different. Although there is still a risk of being discovered when starting from Jiaozhou, this risk has been reduced.
a lot of.
However, although it was possible to enter the sea from Jiaozhou, in this era, sea-going ships that could sail long distances were not so easy to build, and Yu Ji had previously received limited support.
Therefore, although the actions related to the sea route are in progress, there will still be some time before results can be achieved.
Moreover, for Yu Ji, this is not the only thing that Jiaozhou can use.
Jiaozhou includes most of the current Guangdong Province, most of Guangxi, and the northern part of Vietnam. Among them, Guangdong is located on the southern coast, with fertile land, very suitable for farming, and also has the benefit of fish and salt.
Moreover, Guangdong is also connected by sea to Southeast Asia and even more distant South Asia, West Asia, and East Africa. Guangxi's natural geographical conditions may be slightly inferior to Guangdong in terms of the benefits of cultivated land and fish and salt, but Guangxi is better than Guangxi because of its natural dangers.
There may be slightly more resources.
Therefore, Yu Ji understands the value of this land better than others and the benefits that will be gained after this land is developed, instead of focusing all their attention on Jingzhou like other members of the Xiang family.
If Jiaozhou is developed and utilized properly, the Xiang family's strength is enough to achieve a large enough growth in a short period of time.
In addition, in recent years, Yu Ji's other move is to capture rice, and it has been successful. Although potatoes have spread throughout the Han Dynasty, they can't live on just one crop, and they can't live on just one crop.
Perhaps just by eating this one thing, Champa rice came into Yu Ji’s sight.
Not only that, Champa rice has another huge advantage compared to potatoes, that is, it is not afraid of others stealing it. Because, rice must be planted, but the place must be considered. Even if this thing is leaked, many princes
You can't grow this thing, especially those powerful northern princes.